Soccket to Me!

With apologies to Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In for the title above (and apologies to any of you under the age of 45 who won’t get this 1960s television reference, see here), our office was fortunate enough to receive earlier this month two Socckets (pictured here) from the first shipment of this invention to the general public. The Soccket is essentially a soccer ball with an internal induction coil that converts kinetic energy generated by kicking the ball into stored electric energy that can be used to power a reading lamp. Its intended users are the 25% of children in the world who love soccer but lack access to electricity at home for activities we take for granted, such as reading their homework at night. The story of the development of the Soccket is a great story of creativity and entrepreneurship. Here is a link to more information about this story provided by Jessica Mathews, one of the co-inventors of the Soccket.

Our first experience with the Soccket was very positive. It couldn’t be easier to assemble and use – all you do is kick it, and then plug in the light when you are ready. In addition, we were amazed to see that one of the Socckets greatly out-performed the officially-promised performance of three hours LED reading light from 15 minutes of kicking use. After only two or three minutes of kicking the Soccket around the confines of my small law office, I plugged in the light and, more than 24 hours later – it is still shining!

First, it shows what can be accomplished through the ingenuity of a handful of dedicated people. More importantly, Uncharted Play has figured out a way to make renewable electricity through joyful activity. This is a winning combination.